The Supreme Court directed implementation of increased pay scales for judicial officers of subordinates courts across the country on Tuesday. The salaries of the officers will be enhanced almost three-fold.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and B S Chauhan said the state governments would give salary as per the recommendations of the Justice Padmanabhan committee.

The All India Judges’ Association had approached the Court seeking implementation of the recommendation of the Committee contending that there was a wide disparity between the salaries of judicial officers and other government employees.

The hike in pay scales is to be implemented with effect from January 2006 as per the recommendations of the Supreme Court-appointed committee which had submitted its report in July 2009. The hike will translate into a monthly increase of nearly Rs 20,000 for judges at the entry level.

The court said 60 percent of the arrears would be paid in cash and 40 percent deposited in Provident Fund.

With the increase in pay scale as recommended by the Padmanabhan committee, the starting salary of a civil judge (junior division) is expected to be around Rs 35,000, a hike of over Rs 20,000. As per the recommendations, the salary of a civil judge (senior division) would be around Rs 45,000, a hike of around Rs 30,000. Similarly the salary of a district judge (entry level) would be around Rs 60,000.